The latest trailer for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, released earlier this week, gave us our first look at new character Neil, played by Luca Marinelli. Game director Hideo Kojima has taken to social media platform X to talk about Marinelli, his role, and how the two ended up working together for the sequel.Kojima wrote about how he first came to know of Marinelli thanks to his role as antagonist Fabio Cannizzaro/Zingaro in the Italian movie They Call Me Jeeg. He also praised Marinellis work in the autobiographical movie Martin Eden. Kojimas work in helping promote the movies Japanese release in 2020 led to the two meeting and talking, with Marinelli telling Kojima about how he grew up as a fan of the Metal Gear franchise.During the pandemic, I was casting for Death Stranding 2. Neil would be an important role that replaces Cliff from Death Stranding 1, wrote Kojima. The fans would not be satisfied unless the casting would surpass Mads.Ultimately, it was Marinellis work on Netflixs The Old Guard that helped Kojima decide that he would be ideal for the role of Neil in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. While they couldnt meet, thanks to Marinelli working on The Eight Mountains, they finally spoke through an online call.After that, I Zoom called with Luca once he was home, pitched the idea of DS2, and he agreed to play the role, Kojima wrote. When I told him I was looking for someone to play Lucy, he introduced me to his wife, Alissa, who is also an actress (and filmmaker). We did their scan and performance capture during the height of the pandemic, but their on-set performance was excellent.You can see that in the digitized results from even the small bits of the trailer. I can only thank Luca and Alissa for agreeing to perform when we didnt even have a script yet.As Kojima revealed, Marinellis role as Neil does seem to bear quite a bit of resemblance to that of Mads Mikkelsens character, Cliff, from the original Death Stranding. Both characters seemingly have similar story arcs, with past regrets turning them into antagonistic forces in their respective games. Interestingly, Marinellis character Neil also cheekily referenced Metal Gear Solid protagonist Solid Snake with his bandana.The trailer for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach also showed off quite a bit of gameplay. While a lot of the core gameplay loop will be similar to the first game, where players control Sam Porter Bridges and complete deliveries by traveling across vast stretches of wilderness on foot, the sequel seems to have a lot more action set-pieces.Among the action scenes were epic boss fights and even vehicular combat on bikes racing through player-made highways.The trailer also revealed that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be coming to PS5 on June 26. For more details on pre-orders and its various editions, check out our coverage of the event.